Map folding machine

ABSTRACT

A semi-automatic machine for folding snap-open maps is provided having a first die for forming center sections and auxiliary dies for forming corner sections.

[ 1 Oct. 24, 1972 United States Patent Cook [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS [54] MAP FOLDING MACHINE xxx RR 3 mm 77 M" 2 M ud S..D k SXmr ou u RBCB 44 8 2465 9999 1111 2662 l 2476 6776 3 7062 5002 53 222 o c .E m a r F S m m C L G n w mf r 0 .m ha TC M Wm M e t n n g e V S .m A l. l 2 3 7 7 Primary Examiner-Louis G. Mancene Assistant Examiner-D. L. Weinhold Att0rneyEckh0ff & Hoppe [22] Filed: March 25, 1971 211 Appl. No.: 128,088

7] ABSTRACT A semi-automatic machine for folding snap-open maps is provided having a first die for forming center sec tions and auxiliary dies for forming comer sections.

[52] US. Cl. R

[58] Field of Search 57; 72/475 4 Claims, 13 Drawing Figures PATENTEI] [IN 24 I972 SHEET 1 0F 6 moms if gb? PATENIEDHBT24 I 3.700.230

SHEEI 2 OF 6 INVENTOR.

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SHEET 3 BF 6 I N VENTOR I THOMAS L. 600K PATENIED OCT 24 I972 SHEET h 0F 6 PATENTEUUBT 24 I912 3 700.230

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THOMAS L 600% PATENTED 24 I97? 3 700,230

sum 5 If 6 moms L. 600K INVENTOR.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Snap-open maps have been known before wherein the map consists of fourteen panels which are folded upon each other in such a manner that by one simple opening movement, the compactly folded map opens out to its entire extent and can be closed by a single reverse movement. Although the most common application of such a folding scheme is a map, it is obvious that the scheme is useful for programs, advertising brochures, greeting cards and the like. The folding scheme is taught by US. Pat. No. 2,525,937.

Although such maps have long been known, they have not achieved great popularity in this country because of the difficult folding job involved. In other words, they do not lend themselves to an automatic folding machine and such maps have been painstakingly folded by hand.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a map folding machine embodying the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a blank after it has been processed on the machine and just before the final folding operation.

FIG. 3 is a side elevation of the machine shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged partial view of the folding mandrel and ram after the ram has descended.

FIG. 5 is a section on the line 55 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 6 is a section on the line 6--6 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 7 is a partial side view of the folding mechanism.

FIG. 8 is a section on the line 88 of FIG. 4.

FIG. 9 is a partial view of the folding head and ram taken at right angles to the view of FIG. 4.

FIG. 10 is a diagrammatic view of the inwardly folding wings just before the rim descends.

FIG. 1 1 is a view similar to FIG. 10 showing the view of the wings after the ram has descended.

FIG. 12 is a diagrammatic plan view showing the movement of the wings into the final folding position.

FIG. 13 is a series of diagrammatic views showing the various steps in the folding operation.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Before going into a detailed description of the folding machine, the map itself will be described. The map is shown in various forms in FIG. 13. The map is formed from a sheet of paper or similar material, suitably in square or rectangular form. In its folded form the map contains fourteen distinct panels. The two main panels are designated 10 and 12 and these are connected by a short fold line 14. Each of the panels 10 and 12 has six sides, three of which are at right angles to each other as at 16, 18 and 20 and two of which as at 22 and 24 form an angle of 135 with their respective adjacent edges. The angling lines 22 and 24 do not come together but instead intersect the line 14 so that the line 14 forms the main fold between the panels 10 and 12. In addition to these panels, there are edge panels 26 and 28 and the corner panels 30, 32, 34 and 36. Obviously there are equivalent panels to the panels 26 through 36 on the opposite side of the sheet but these are not described in detail since they are mirror images.

The panels 26 and 28 come together at a point at the top forming an angle of while they have straight, parallel side walls and are thus similar to the panels 10 and 12 except for the fold line 27 in the center and the fact that they come to a point rather than intersecting on a line. The comer panels 30 and 32 normally form an angle of 90 with each other with a 45 fold line between them but there may be some slight departure from this as is shown in FIG. 6 of US. Pat. No.,

2,525,937. With the various fold lines described, the sheet can now be formed together with the panels 10 and 12 lying substantially parallel to each other. The map in its folded form is shown at 13D. If. one now grasps the panels 10 and 12 and pulls them apart, the entire map will spring open to its flat form. In some instances, an outside cover having a fold line corresponding with line 14 might-be secured to the panels 10 and 12 and which may extend beyond panels 10 and 12. This panel can be made of stiffer paper than the mapitself and will facilitate the opening operation as well as lending a more attractive and squared-off appearance to the map.

The machine for forming the maps is mounted on a base generally designated 40, having a pair of upright guides 42 mounted at one edge thereof. A mandrel 44 is mounted near the center of the base and this mandrel has a plurality of faces, suitably fourteen different faces, which correspond to the map panels previously described. For clarity, these have been given A designations so that the face of the mandrel designated 10A corresponds with the map panel 10 and so on. The mandrel 44 represents the map in its partially folded form and the faces 10A and 12A of the mandrel make an angle of roughly with each other.

Mounted for sliding movement on the guides 42 is the main driving arm 46 and which extends below the surface of base 40 (se FIG. 3) and is biased to stay in its upper position by means of a spring 48. The driving arm 46 terminates in the member 50 which is connected to a suitable source of power such as a foot pedal, crankshaft, hydraulic or pneumatic cylinder or the like, not illustrated.

Mounted on the arm 46 is a cross member 52 to which is connected lost motion linkage 54 which are connected to the bell cranks 56 to actuate a pair of hold-down fingers 58, mounted on shafts 57.

At the top of the driving arm 46 arm 60 is connected to the driving ram 62 which is hollow and has a slider 64 mounted therein. Slider 64 has a limit stop 66 and a spring 68 normally biases slider 64 against the limit stop 66 which contacts the top of the ram 62. The slider 64' carries at its bottom end a fixed die member generally designated 70 which has surfaces which mate with mandrel 44, the mating surfaces being designated by B designations so that die member 103 is complementary to mandrel member 10A and so on. The fixed die member 70 has surfaces corresponding with 10A, 12A, 26A, and 28A (as well as the counterparts of the latter two surfaces at the opposite side) but does not have counter parts of the mandrel surfaces 30A, 32A, 34A or 36A. These latter are undercut and not visible from above. The die faces 10B and 128 have cut outs, as at 71, to clear the hold-down fingers 58.

Also mounted on ram 62 is a cross member 72 terminating in four arms 74. Four movable die members 78 are mounted on arms 75 and are pivoted by means of pivots as at 76 on four comers of the die member 70. Each of the die members 78 has two faces which conform to two of the tucked under faces of mandrel 44. Thus one of the die members has faces 30B and 32B which correspond with mandrel faces 30A and 32A and so on for the four pairs of corner segments. The movable die members 78 are actuated by a lost motion mechanism perhaps best seen in FIG. 10. The die members 78, mounted on arms 75 are pivoted to a rod 80 which passes freely through arm 74 and is held in place by means of a collar 82. A compression spring 84 is provided on the rod 80 so that normally the die members 78 are held in their outer-most position against the collars 82.

End guides 85 and 86 and an edge guide 88 may be provided to hold the map blank in the proper position.

Having described the machine itself, the actual folding operation will now be described. Although the machine will operate with a completely flat sheet of paper, it is preferable that the paper first be folded by hand or machine to have a single center crease such as is shown in FIG. 13A. The sheet is now placed on the mandrel 44 and, if prefolded, the center crease would be on the peak 14A of mandrel 44 while the ends would be against guides 85 and 86 and one edge against guide 88. In this position, the two edges of the sheet lie reasonably fiat on the mandrel surfaces A and 12A. Now downward pressure is applied to the member 50 and this immediately causes the hold-down fingers 58 to rotate and firmly hold the sheet in place. Now as 50 continues to descend,.the main die member 70 will contact the mating surfaces and form the sheet into the configuration shown in FIG. 13B. As the main die 70 bottoms out, the ram continues to descend and the lost motion action of the rods 80 causes the springs 84 to compress, causing the side dies 78 to swing in and under, thus forming the corner panels 30,32 and so on. The sheet is now in the configuration shown in 13C. As pressure is released on the member 50, the spring 48 will cause the ram to ascend so that the parts will be actuated in reverse order. Thus, first the corner dies 78 will swing upwardly due to the action of the collars 82 onthe member 74 and as the ram continues to ascend, finally the hold-down fingers 58 will retract, completely freeing the sheet. The sheet is now free and can be lifted off of the mandrel 44 and if the sides 10 and 12 are pushed together, either by hand or by machine, the finished map will take the configuration shown in FIG. 13D.

Other variations can be made in the exact structure shown without departing from the spirit of this invention. For instance, the hold-down fingers 58' may be eliminated with only a slight loss of effectiveness of the machine. Automatic pre-folding means as well as automatic means for actuating the ram. and withdrawing the maps may be provided for maximum productivity.

I claim:

1. A machine for folding maps or the like wherein certain sections of the map are folded'under other sections, comprising in combination:

.a. a mandrel having a plurality of faces, said faces corresponding in location and number to the faces of a finished rn a some f said faces being visible from above sai mandre and other of said faces underlying said visible faces and forming undercut sections,

' b. a multiple die member having a main die with a plurality of fixed faces thereon, said fixed faces corresponding with said visible faces and a plurality of auxiliary die members, said auxiliary die members corresponding with said undercut sections, and v means for bringing said main die into contact with said mandrel whereby all of the mating visible face members engage each other and auxiliary means whereby said auxiliary die members press downwardly and inwardly into said mandrel after said yisible die members have come into contact with eachfother.

2. 'I'he-"structure of claim 1 wherein said secondary die members are actuated by a lost motion linkage between said auxiliary members and said main die member.

3. The structure of claim 1 wherein a pair of holddown members are provided, said hold-down members first engaging the outer surfaces of the map and holding them in place prior to the descent of the main die member.

4. The structure of claim 1 wherein the map is of the pop-out type having fourteen faces and said mandrel has corresponding faces and said main and auxiliary die members have faces corresponding with the mandrel faces. 

1. A machine for folding maps or the like wherein certain sections of the map are folded under other sections, comprising in combination: a. a mandrel having a plurality of faces, said faces corresponding in location and number to the faces of a finished map, some of said faces being visible from above said mandrel and other of said faces underlying said visible faces and forming undercut sections, b. a multiple die member having a main die with a plurality of fixed faces thereon, said fixed faces corresponding with said visible faces and a plurality of auxiliary die members, said auxiliary die members corresponding with said undercut sections, and c. means for bringing said main die into contact with said mandrel whereby all of the mating visible face members engage each other and auxiliary means whereby said auxiliary die members press downwardly and inwardly into said mandrel after said visible die members have come into contact with each other.
 2. The structure of claim 1 wherein said secondary die members are actuated by a lost motion linkage between said auxiliary members and said main die member.
 3. The structure of claim 1 wherein a pair of hold-down members are provided, said hold-down members first engaging the outer surfaces of the map and holding them in place prior to the descent of the main die member.
 4. The structure of claim 1 wherein the map is of the pop-out type having fourteen faces and said mandrel has corresponding faces and said main and auxiliary die members have faces corresponding with the mandrel faces. 